"...a significant and much-respected attempt to peer through layers of legend and explain how 'Edison came to rank with Santa Claus.'" - The New York Times
ix, 328 pages : 24 cm
Includes bibliographical references (pages 275-317) and index
Introduction -- Wizard of Menlo Park -- Innocence and power: the mythology of Edison's youth -- Progress toward the ultimate: Edison and the American monomyth -- Looking backward: from great American to great inventor -- Last great hayseed: the posthumous image -- Reprise: the impossible dream -- Distribution of Edison items in the press, and content analyses of Edison material